1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to pacifiers for infants, and more particularly to a pacifier for treating various developmental delays and disorders in children.
2. Description of Related Art
Infant pacifiers are known and available. Common among infant pacifiers are elements including a nipple on which an infant can suck, a base or shield upon which the nipple is attached to prevent the infant from choking or otherwise ingesting the nipple, and often times a handle or similar structure to allow the infant or an adult to grip and place the pacifier.
There has been a trend in recent years to improve upon the basic infant pacifier design by making the nipple structure flatter and angled, so-called “orthodontic style” pacifiers. The purpose of such orthodontic style designs being to reduce the incidence of dental deformation and also to improve the sucking process.
Pacifiers are commonly made from a moderately soft material such as an elastomer, the surface of the nipple of said pacifier commonly being smooth. Teethers, on the other hand, are often made from a harder durometer material and are not commonly in the shape of a nipple. Teethers may also contain hard bumps to encourage chewing and associated break through of new teeth. In addition, pacifiers and teethers are intended to sooth and calm stressed or otherwise agitated infants. The pacifiers of the prior art were not intended to, nor do they, address infants with specific developmental problems such as developmental delays, pre-maturity, gastro-esophageal reflux, autism spectrum disorders, sensory modulation disorders, hypotonicity, cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome, microcephaly, and other sensory integrative dysfunctions. The applicant, through extensive work as a pediatric occupational therapist, has invented a novel, unique and non-obvious developmental pacifier to help infants with functional feeding development and to assist infants with sensory integrative dysfunctions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a developmental pacifier that assists infants with specific developmental problems such as developmental delays, pre-maturity, gastro-esophageal reflux, autism spectrum disorder, hypotonicity, cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome and microcephaly. It is another object of the present invention to provide a developmental pacifier that encourages acceptance of food textures and stimulates oral-motor awareness. It is another object of the present invention to provide a developmental pacifier that reduces or eliminates functional feeding problems in children. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a series of developmental pacifiers that progressively and systematically introduces texture to assist infants with specific developmental problems such as developmental delays, pre-maturity, gastro-esophageal reflux, autism spectrum disorder, hypotonicity, cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome and microcephaly. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a series of developmental pacifiers that encourages acceptance of food textures and stimulates oral-motor awareness. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a series of developmental pacifiers that reduces or eliminates functional feeding problems in children. The present invention, and the embodiments described herein, provide for a Developmental Pacifier and a series of cooperatively inter-related Developmental Pacifiers for addressing various developmental difficulties in children.